Labour Day is celebrated
on the first Monday of
September. It is a
statutory holiday
throughout Canada.

The Canadian labour
movement can justly claim the title of
originator of Labour
Day. Peter J. McGuire,
one of the founders of
the American Federation
of Labour has
traditionally been known
as the 'Father of Labour
Day'. Historical
evidence indicates that
McGuire obtained his
idea for the
establishment of an
annual demonstration and
public holiday from the
Canadian trade unionist.

Earliest records show
that the Toronto Trades
Assembly, perhaps the
original central labour
body in Canada,
organized the first
North American
'workingman's
demonstration' of any
significance for April
15,1872. The beribboned
parade marched smartly
in martial tread
accompanied by four
bands. About 10,000
Torontonians turned out
to see the parade and
listen to the speeches
calling for abolition of
the law which decreed
that trade unions were
criminal conspiracies in
restraint of trade.

The freedom of 24
imprisoned leaders of
the Toronto
Typographical Union, on
strike to secure the
nine-hour working day,
was the immediate
purpose of the parade,
on what was then
Thanksgiving Day. It
was still a crime to be
a member of a union in
Canada although the law
of criminal conspiracy
in restraint of trade
had been repealed by the
United Kingdom
parliament in 1871.

Toronto was not the only
city to witness a labour
parade in 1872. On
September 3, members of
seven unions in Ottawa
organized a parade more
than a mile long, headed
by the Garrison
Artillery band and
flanked by city fireman
carrying torches.

The Ottawa parade wound
its way to the home of
Prime Minister Sir John
A. MacDonald where the
marchers hoisted him
into a carriage and drew
him to Ottawa City Hall
by torchlight. 'The Old
Chieftain', aware of the
discontent of workers
with the laws which made
unions illegal, in a
ringing declaration from
the steps of the City
Hall, promised the
marchers that his party
would 'sweep away all
such barbarous laws from
the statute books'.

The offending conspiracy
laws were repealed by
the Canadian government
in 1872. The tradition
established by the
Toronto Trades Assembly
was continued through
the seventies and into
the early 1880's.

In 1882, the Toronto
Trades and Labour
Council, successor to
the TTA, decided to
organize the annual
demonstration and picnic
for July 22. The council
sent an invitation to
Peter J. McGuire of New
York requesting his
services of as a speaker
for the occasion.
McGuire was the founder
and general secretary of
the United Brotherhood
of Carpenters which had
organized the previous
year.

It was in the same year,
that McGuire proposed at
a meeting of the New
York Central Labour
Union that a festive day
be set aside for a
demonstration and
picnic. Labour Day was
first celebrated in New
York on September
5,1882. It is apparent,
however, that the custom
had developed in Canada
and the invitation sent
to McGuire prompted his
suggestion to the New
York labour body.

Soon pressure for
legislation to declare a
national holiday for
Labour Day was exerted
in both Canada and the
United States. In 1894
the government of Sir
John Thompson enacted
such legislation on July
23, with the Prime
Minister piloting the
bill through Parliament
against the opposition
of some of his
Conservative followers.

Canadian trade unionists
have celebrated this day
set aside to honor those
who labour' from the
1870's on. The first
Labour Day parade in
Winnipeg, in 1894, was
two miles long.

There can be little
doubt that the annual
demonstrations of
worker's solidarity each
Labour Day in North
America owe their
inspiration to small
group of 'illegal'
members of the Toronto
Trades Assembly.

The above is
an edited version of an article written in September, 1961
by
Clifford A Scotton, editor of the former CLC flagship
publication, "Canadian Labour".